The Mask of Darkness
by Kristiana Kyle
Summary: A young girl is recruted to perform illegal activities and if she refuses, she will be killed. Reveiw me with all your criticism. P.S. this is a Catwoman related story.
1. A Single Tear

Disclaimer: The Catwoman and Batman Characters are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am making no money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me. And I'm Dead serious about that.

The Mask of Darkness Part One  
Prologue: A Single Tear 

She couldn't hear a word the priest was saying. She was blocking it all out. She didn't need to hear it, about how wonderful her mom was. She already knew. She did, after all, live with her for the past sixteen years.

What was she going to do without her? Her mom was her best friend. They did everything together, she told her mother her secrets, her mother had answers to everything, but now she was gone.

She looked at her broken arm. At all the signatures on the cast:

"_You'll get through this Lexie! We're here for you!"; "It'll be ok! You'll see!"; "Hey don't hit me across the head with this thing alright_".

She smiled. That last one was from Kenny. He had really nice handwriting for guy. Kenny always knew how to make her laugh, even when he wasn't around, but he could get so serious sometimes, like right now. He was sitting next to her in the middle of this graveyard, holding her hand, the one left untouched by the accident.

He was friends with her mother, too. Would he be Ok? Of course he would. He had dealt with this kind of thing before. There was so much death in his family. She thought she had it bad, but look at Kenny. The only family he had was his drug-dealing uncle. She couldn't handle one death, but he had to handle so many, then to be sent to live with that uncle. His uncle was abusive. But that was nothing Kenny couldn't take control of himself. He got a job and started taking karate. She grinned again. His uncle doesn't mess with him anymore. Yeah, he's a red belt or something, and that's really close to a black belt.

She looked to her other side at the man sitting next to her, her father. How was her dad going to take this? How much could he handle? He and her mom were so much in love, could he take this? She gasped silently. Her dad was crying. This scared her; she had never seen him cry before.

She glanced at Kenny; he looked back and nodded. She took her hand from his and placed it on her father's arm. Her father gazed at his little girl, his only child. She had not cried once. She was strong. She would have to be strong for both of them; this was too much for him. He laid his head on her shoulder and began to sob harder.

"… In God's name we pray, Amen"

She looked up; it was over, just like that. She stood slowly with her father and Kenny. She looked at Kenny he was her best friend now. She looked at her mother's casket. This would be the last memory of her that she would ever have. She turned away. IT ISN'T FAIR! IT ISN'T FAIR! Stupid drunk drivers! She ran off; dodging her mother's friends and people that didn't really know her that were just there to be there. She could her someone following her. She sat down on a tombstone. Kenny knelt down beside her.

She whispered, just loud enough for Kenny to hear, "It just isn't fair." He embraced her, held her as close as he could. She closed her eyes and a single tear rolled down her cheek.


	2. Dear Diary

Disclaimer: The Catwoman and Batman Characters are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am making no money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me.

The Mask of Darkness Part One 

**Chapter One: Dear Diary**

_Dear Dairy_

_It's been over a month since mom died. I've got my cast off. Julie asked me when I was going to start cheerleading again. I told her that I wasn't going to, they've done ok without me so I'm not going back and I'm not trying out next year either._

_People are treating me weird. Well I guess I've been acting weird myself so I really don't have that much room to be talking. Daddy's drinking is getting worse. Yeah, I know, first mom, now and now I'm losing dad the same way. But it started out alright. He would sneak one hear and there, it wasn't a big deal, but he's scaring me now. He's becoming, well, destructive. Breaking everything in sight. I get out of the house and go to the library when he gets like that. It's nice there, being quiet and everything. I'm learning a lot about computers and stuff. It's actually quite interesting. But one time I went and it was closed. I'll admit I went into a panic. So I walked around to the back and broke in. I know it was a stupid idea, but with dad being like he was then the library being closed, I wasn't thinking right. But the lock was easy and there wasn't any high-tech security system it being a library and all. I stayed there all night checking out Catwoman sites. I know, pathetic. I just got the newest issue. Reading all those Catwoman Comics is probably the reason I thought to break in. (HaHa)_

_Kenny says he's worried about me. Says I'm being distant and that he never sees me smile anymore. I know he's right, but without mom I'm lost oh no dads home hEs drUnkI gotto get out ofhEre hes tHrowinG things BackTo bREeakiNg intothe librAry letme go lOck the doOr okIm bacK Got to hURry KenNyI'll take kArAte likeKeNny gottO getoUt of herE_


	3. Kill the Pain

Disclaimer: The Characters of Catwoman and Batman are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me.

The Mask of Darkness Part One 

**Chapter Two: Kill the Pain **

Lexie ran into the comic book store looked at Larry, the owner and the one at the counter, and said in between breaths,

"LARRY!" breath, "Is it," breath, "in yet?"

Larry tilted head to the side and rolled his eyes. He lifted his arm to look at his wristwatch, "I got it two minutes ago. You're one minute and thirty seconds later than usual."

"I had a karate, so where is it?"

"You know you've been taking a lot of those classes lately. Don't ya think you're gonna wear yourself out?"

"Nah, it keeps my mind off things. Now would you be so kind as to give me my book?"

"I've got one here special just for you." He gave her the first issue of the Catwoman volume two series, and shook his head. She impatiently grabbed the comic book, and carefully put it into her backpack. She pulled money out of her pocket, threw it on the counter, and turned to the door to go home, but ran into Kenny who was just walking in.

"Hey, Lexie! Thought I'd find you here."

She sighed, "What do you want, Kenny?"

"You kind of rushed out of karate today, so I didn't get to say anything, but I wanted to talk to you. I'll walk you home." He took her bag and held the door open for her. After walking in silence for a while, Lexie said,

"Ok, you said you wanted to talk to me, so talk."

"Well, Lexie, I don't know where to start." He paused for a moment, then continued, "It's been two months since your mom died, and I know I've said this before, but you're not acting like yourself . . ."

"Kenny . . ."

"Don't interrupt me, Lexie. You used to be so happy, you were always smiling, everybody liked you. But now . . ." He paused again, "But now you completely throw yourself into karate and when you're not doing that you're reading those comics. I am REALLY worried about you, Lexie. I've been in karate for three years, you've been in it for a month, but you get so involved with it . . . You're in the same class as me, doesn't that tell you something?" She opened her mouth to answer, but Kenny kept going, "Sensei even says that if he caught you when you were pissed, you could kick his ass. Sensei said that, Lexie. And people are starting to talk about you. Don't you care about anything anymore?"

"Kenny, just leave me alone . . ."

"And that!" He shoved his finger in her face, "You don't let anyone anywhere near you. You used to be able to talk to me; you used to tell me everything. We're best friends and it's like I hardly know you."

She was angry now. She didn't like the way he was talking to her. She started screaming at him,

"How dare you; How DARE You! What The HELL Makes You Think You Can Talk To Me Like That! AND MY MOTHER WAS MY BEST FRIEND, NOT YOU!"

He was completely stunned by this outburst and he didn't know how to react to it. She was crying; she wasn't even trying to hold back the tears, the pain.

"Lex, I'm sorry. . ."

"No, don't give me your stupid apologizes. I don't want to hear it." She grabbed her backpack from Kenny's arm, and ran towards her house. She didn't hear him following her. She looked back and he was just standing there watching her run.

She ran faster. Maybe if she could run fast enough, could leave the pain with him.

But the pain stayed.

She slowed when she saw her house and by the time she got to the front steps she was walking slowly. She stumbled up the stairs. She was exhausted. She had run almost the entire way here from the book store. She reached to open the door, but it opened itself to reveal her father angry and unbelievably drunk.

"Where the hell have you been?"

She was scared, "I . . . I . . ."

"You were with that Kenny bastard weren't ya? Get in here." He grabbed her arm and flung her into the house with such force she hit the floor-hard. He yanked her up so that she was standing. "What were you doing with him?"

She was completely petrified, "I . . . I . . ."

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" He hit her.

"Daddy. . ." she cried weakly. He hit her again,

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOIN'!" He raised his arm to hit her again, but she wasn't going to let him. She pushed him away as hard as she could. He went backward from the force. He started laughing,

"So ya wanna fight back, do ya?" He rushed to attack her, but in his present condition he was no match for Lexie. She was on top of him punching him repeatedly with all her strength. All she could think was _fight the pain, fight the pain. Make the pain feel its own misery. Kill the pain. Kill the pain. Kill the…_

She stopped, "Oh my God." She left him lying on the floor and rushed to the phone. She dialed the first number that came to her mind.

"Hello, Wayne residents."

Her voice was shaking. She could only accomplish a whisper, "Kenny, Kenny. . . . .

"Lexie, is that you? What's wrong?"

"Kenny, I . . ." she couldn't say it.

"Lexie, what's wrong?"

"Kenny . . . I think I killed my dad."


	4. Worst Fear

Disclaimer: The Characters of Catwoman and Batman are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am making no money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me.

The Mask of Darkness Part One 

**Chapter Three: Worst Fear**

"Can I go see my dad now?" She knew there was really no point: the receptionist at the front desk of the hospital would never let Lexie see her dad. How could a sixteen-year-old girl beat a grown man to a coma?

"I'm sorry ma'am but the doctor has asked that no one be let in for a couple of days until he's completely healed from his injuries."

"But I'm his daughter . . ."

"Oh, so, uh, was that what you were thinking when you were beating him up?" Lexie moved closer to the hospital receptionist so that her face was only inches away from the girl's nose.

"No, but it's what I'll be thinking when I'm beating you up." She turned and left the desk receptionist in fear. Why do people keep saying things like that to her? It's not like she MEANT to put him into a coma. She wasn't thinking. It all just happened.

She shouldn't have said that to the receptionist. She could hear her lawyer now, talking about what to say and what not to say. But she deserved to go to jail or something. She had almost taken a life, her dad's life. But they said that it was justified, that it was in self-defense. That's why she wasn't being punished, because this was justified. But could something like this be justified Could the word 'justify' even be applied to this situation? They seemed to think so. But why did they all act like that receptionist. Well not all of them acted like her, just some, but the reason why they acted the way they did was the same: they feared her. And she felt guilty thinking about it, but she kind of liked that feeling. She had power over these people that feared her. She smiled in spite of herself. After all, why have a worst fear when you can be one?

She then realized that she walking toward her house. She turned around and began walking in the other direction to Julie's house. Julie's mom and dad had volunteered to take Lexie in until all that legal junk was sorted out and could find her a legal guardian. If her father ever woke up . . ._if?_ No, WHEN her father woke up, she didn't have to live with him because of him hitting her. Lexie thought that it was an OK plan. Her father hadn't acted like a father since he started drinking, so she didn't consider him so. Therefore, in her opinion, it wasn't like she was leaving someone that cared for her.

She was surprised that Kenny hadn't offered to let her live at his house. It wasn't because of his uncle, because after this ordeal everyone knew she could take care of herself. But Kenny wasn't being his usual "helpful" self. He complained about HER being distant, well what about him? Always making stupid excuses to be somewhere. He even got a beeper. If you had known Kenny as long as Lexie had, you would know that Kenny would never, ever buy a beeper. And he was falling asleep at school. He had always been very serious about schoolwork, so he could get scholarships and stuff, and it was not like him to fall asleep in class. But he was always so tired. It was like he was leading a secret night life or something.

She was so focused on her thoughts that she ran into someone.

"Sorry."

"Ellexia Kyle?"

"Yeah?" She was confused. She had never seen this man before. He was a tall, broadly built African-American, wearing a black suit and dark sunglasses. He didn't smile; his face was expressionless. He reminded her of someone from secret service or the CIA.

He handed her a card, "Go to this address tomorrow at twelve o'clock AM. Come alone and tell no one where you are going."

"WHAT!" She started to laugh. She came to the conclusion that this guy was a complete nut case. She looked at the card, "Joe's air conditioning? Sorry 'bout your luck, but we actually got a new air conditioner a couple of months ago. So. . . ." she slid the card in his jacket pocket and continued, "we won't be needing your services any time soon." She began to walk away but he stopped her,

"You will go to the address at midnight or we will send someone to escort you."

"You're psycho . . ."

"We will use force if necessary."

"We? Who the hell is we?"

"Come to the address at twelve and you will find out." He gave her back the card. A black jaguar pulled up to the sidewalk where they were standing, the man got in, and it pulled away. She watched the car as it drove off stupefied.

"Well, I must say that isn't exactly something you experience everyday." She looked at the card, "I guess I might as well." And she walked to Julie's house.


	5. Joe's Airconditioning Inc

Disclaimer: The Characters of Catwoman and Batman are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am making no money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me.

The Mask of Darkness Part One 

**Chapter Four: Joe's Air-conditioning Inc.**

11:29.

"Guess I'd better be going." She stuffed some items she thought might come in useful into her backpack and was about to climb out the window when she heard someone yawn. It was Julie. She was sharing her room with Lexie.

"Lexie? Damn it, girl, why you still up? We got school tomorrow."

_Shit_, Lexie thought to herself. "Go back to sleep. I've just a lot of homework that's all."

"No you don't. You told mom you didn't have any this afternoon." Julie was half asleep and Lexie could only just make out what she was saying.

"Well, I remembered an assignment that's due tomorrow. Go back to sleep." She turned to go out the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs so I can use light and not disturb you." She was getting frustrated.

"That's sweet, but why are you all dressed?"

"Because I get sleepy in my pajamas. Now will you please go back to sleep!"

"OK." And she fell back to sleep as soon as she hit her pillow. She walked down the stairs quietly, so she wouldn't wake up the rest of the house. Lexie stopped at the security panel at the bottom of the stairs. She rolled her eyes. If Julie hadn't woken up, she would have set off the security system going through the window. She almost made a rookie mistake. She thought about all her Catwoman comics; how could she not think of the security system.

"How stupid can one person get? OK now what was that code?" She was trying to remember the numbers that she saw Mr. Lathum enter in when he had to leave the house late one Saturday.

"4. . . 2. . . 4. . . 8. . . Damn what came after 8?" Again she thought of her comics. Locks and codes and things of that nature usually were the same as a familiar number or word so that the owner wouldn't forget it easily.

"4, 2, 4, 8. 4, 2, 4, 8. . . 8. . . 6! April 24, 86! Julie's birthday!" She pushed the "6" button and walked out the front door without a sound.

-

Lexie walked up to the seemingly abandoned building that had the same address as the one on the card the mystery man gave her. She looked at an extremely worn, old sign that read "Joe's Air Conditioning Inc."

"Must be the place." She looked at her watch, 11:50. She felt funny, like she was being watched. What she didn't know was that she was.

-

On the top floor of this building, watching the many televisions that were showing images from the various places where cameras were set up, was "Joe." He liked his code name. He thought it was clever considering the previous owner of their hideout. He smiled at the thought of the word "hideout." When he was younger he had always wanted a hideout. He looked at the clock on his desk, 11:51.

"She's early. I like that."

He turned his attention back to the TV with the image of Lexie. She was walking up to the door. She tried to open it but it was locked. Joe smiled even bigger.

"We'll see if she's as good as you say she is." He smiled.

-

"That's weird. The door's locked. You'd think if they wanted to see me as bad as that guy said, they would have at least left the door unlocked." The feeling of being watched was becoming stronger. She started looking around to see if there was someone.

No one.

She looked up at the building. At the corner of the door. She thought she saw. . . No. . . She shook her head in disbelief then smiled and waved at the hidden camera.

-

"HA! Perfect! You're right she is good, but is she good enough. If she can get in here alive, I'll be convinced and I'm sure The Collector will be too."

"Yes, Sir."

-

OK, so they're watching her. And they locked the door. Is this some kind of test? A test to see if she's worthy? Worthy of what?

She sighed, "Well, they probably have cameras everywhere around this place. What do they want with me?" she sighed, "I guess I'd better get in there and ask 'em." She searched for another way to get in, but all the doors were locked. So were the windows she could reach. She thought about breaking a window, but noticed that all of them had metal screens behind them. She was walking down the side of the building once more, when she noticed a fire escape.

"Now there's an idea. But how do I get it down . . . Ahhh . . ." She pulled out a whip from her backpack, "and I thought I was going crazy when I thought to bring this." She was thankful that she had talked her mom into buying it for her to go with her Catwoman Halloween costume. She closed her eyes. Mom. No, she was not going to think of anything that would cloud her mind. She had a feeling she was going to need all the focus she could get. She thought back to the how-to movies she had bought so she would know how to use the whip to impress her friends at their Halloween party. . .

-

Joe was watching as she used the whip to pull down the ladder of the fire escape, "Well, Bones, I'm impressed." Joe looked at a man in a black suit with dark sunglasses with an expressionless face.

"I thought you would be. But this is nothing."

-

"OK, now I'm on the fire escape. What floor do I go to?" She thought for a moment, "Well, if this _is_ a test, then they'll want to make it as hard as possible for me. So I'm guessing the top floor." She looked up at the very many floors that the building possessed, "Why does an air conditioning company have so many floors? If I get to the top and I end up having to go all the way back down to the first floor, I'm gonna be pissed."

She climbed as far as the fire escape would let her, which was three stories from the top. She looked in a window.

"Well, there's no screen. But I'll bet. . . yep, locked. OK, here we go." She had always wanted to do this, like they do on TV. She punched the window causing it to shatter. "That was too cool." She looked at her now bleeding hand, "Well, that's not too bad. I thought it was gonna be a lot worse."

-

"She can take pain. Very nice. This one's definitely my favorite out of all the others everyone else picked. The boys well they weren't smart enough to get this far, and the girls stopped at the fire escape, afraid they'd break a nail. You've got a knack for this Bones."

"Thank you, Sir."

-

Lexie was walking in the dark, dusty building looking for stairs or some other way to get to the top floor.

She heard something. She couldn't tell where it came from.

She heard it again. Someone was trying to sneak up on her.

"Alright you can come out now."

-

Joe narrowed his eyes, "This is where we find out if she lives."

-

No one responded to what Lexie had said. She knew someone was there.

"Listen, I know you're there, so you might as well come out." Then she heard from behind her. . .

"EEE-YOW-YO-YO-YO!" She turned around, amused.

"Oh my God." Then she heard form another direction. . .

"HI-YA-YO-YOW!" She rolled her eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me!" then she heard another. . .

"KUNG-HOW-EEE-YA!" She started laughing.

"They have ninjas! They actually have ninjas!" She grabbed a spray can from her backpack. She had made it easy to get to in case she ran into a mugger or someone on the way over here. She never thought she would have to use it on a ninja in an air conditioning factory! She took hold of the ninja closest to her and spayed pepper spray into his eyes. She used most of the contents of the can. She threw him to the floor. He was in too much pain to do anything to her now. She readied her whip, which was already out, and waited for them to make the first move. One of them advanced toward her. She tried to kick him in the face, but he caught her foot.

"OK, let's see if this really works," she thought to herself. And she jumped, twisted her body and kicked him with her other foot. She landed on the floor along with the dazed ninja, but other than some bruises, wasn't harmed.

"WOW! It's just like in the movies! Two down one to go!" While ninja number two was gathering his senses, the last ninja attacked. He was very skilled. She suspected the others were to, but she had gotten lucky. This one was much more advanced than she was, and was pounding the life out of her. She was able to escape his beating long enough to wrap her whip around his neck. She pulled with all her might until he was unconscious. She checked his pulse, still alive. She didn't want to kill anyone.

She was kicked in the face. Ninja number two was back but was staggering. She had kicked him pretty hard. The first ninja was still running around blind and crashing into things. It was quite funny. With the second ninja in his less than perfect condition she was able to knock him out easily. She walked up to the first ninja and said in her politest voice,

"Excuse me," He tried to hit her but she dodged it with no trouble at all, "Now, now, violence is not the answer."

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, such filthy language! Do we need to wash your mouth out with soap? But, damn it, I didn't even think to bring soap, all I seem to have is this pepper spray. . . . "

"Stay the hell away from me, bitch!" He started to run away.

"Oh, stop it I was only joking, ya loser. Just tell me where the stairs are so I can get this meeting or whatever this is over with and go home and go to bed."

"Find the stairs yourself." And he ran into the shadows. She shook her head in disgust.

-

"HA, HA, HA! Did you see that Bones! Amazing! Though I don't know why I'm surprised, she did put her dad in a coma. Saw it on the news. And did you see how taunted Snake like that? And pepper spray! Ingenious! Oh good she's found the stairs. Bones, she'll recognize you. Would you go and meet her halfway? I've seen all I need to see."

"Yes, Sir"


	6. Joe, Bones, and The Collector

Disclaimer: The Characters of Catwoman and Batman are Copywrited to DC comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I am making no money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other Characters are Copywrited to me.

The Mask of Darkness Part One 

**Chapter Five: Joe, Bones, and The Collector**

"So, like, why did ya'll want me here?" but the man she had met before on the sidewalk didn't answer. "Ummm, do ya got a name?"

"Bones."

"Bones." She nodded her head up and down, "That's cool. Is it like a code name or something?"

"Yes." There was a long silence.

"OK, so I'm guessing you're not a very talkative person."

"We have arrived." Lexie looked around the dimly lit area. She saw another man sitting with his back to her, looking at a myriad of televisions. She recognized some of the locations they were showing.

"Miss Ellexia Kyle." He turned around in his chair. "I like the way you spell your name by the way."

"Thanks. My mom thought of it."

"Oh, yes your mother. How's she doing by the way? Your dad?" the man smiled. He had a malicious smile, an evil smile. He may have even been attractive if it wasn't for that smile. Lexie didn't like him, she didn't like him at all.

"What did you want me for?"

"Please, let me introduce myself. I am called Joe."

"Joe? Clever."

"Yes, I thought so too. I represent a very wealthy, very powerful man you will know as The Collector."

"The Collector?" Lexie was almost unable to hide her hilarity. "_They can't possibly be serious," _was all she could think.

"That's right. He is a collector of the fine treasures of the world. He wishes to hire you."

"To hire me? Hire me for what?"

"To retrieve these treasures from wherever they may be."

"I don't understand."

"To put it simply, you will have to salvage artifacts, jewels, whatever The Collector wants, from dig sites, museums, wherever they may be."

"So, to put it simply, you want me to steal them."

"To put it simply." Joe smiled again. That smile.

"Um, yeah. So what if I refuse?"

"Oh, I'm sure you've watched enough TV and movies to be able to figure that one out." Lexie's eyes widened. "That's right; we would have to kill you. Sometimes Hollywood can get things right. You know too much. Plain and simple."

Lexie was dumbfounded. She didn't know what to do. "Professional Thief" wasn't exactly what you planned to grow up to be when you were a kid. But then again, "Dead" wasn't either.

"Bones, get the young lady a chair. I think she needs to sit down." Again with that smile. Bones set a chair behind Lexie and collapsed into it. What was she going to do?

Lexie swallowed, "It would seem you have left me with no choice."

"I thought you would accept our offer."

"Why did you pick me?"

"Well, I didn't really, Bones did. But let's just say you have certain qualifications that are required. Of course you don't have all the requirements needed; you will have to go through some training."

"But aren't there people already with those requirements. Why don't you ask them?"

"We did. And they are all in jail or dead."

"Excuse me!"

"We've run into some trouble with the U.S. government. They've recruited an agent whose sole objective is to nail us. He's come very close many times."

"Oh, this is just great, now I've got the FBI after me!"

"Yes, isn't life exciting? In order for you to be able to complete your training without anyone nosing around in our business, we will make it possible for Bones to become your legal guardian. We'll say he's your uncle or something."

Lexie couldn't help but laugh, "My uncle? Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm white, he's black, I don't mean to sound racist, but I don't think that's going to work."

"As I said before The Collector is very powerful, with connections in many places, and besides Bones has a way of not letting his racial background interfere with his assignments, don'cha Bones?"

Bones didn't say anything and he kept his face without expression. "You won't live with Bones, but you will have to relocate."

"You mean I'll have to move. And can we tone it down with the big words?"

He ignored her last statement, "It won't be to far from here. You'll have to be able to get to this facility easily. You are old enough to drive?"

"Actually, I just turned sixteen; I haven't even gotten my permit yet."

Joe looked annoyed. "This will draw out your training. No matter, I have a feeling it will be worth the wait." He smiled. Lexie shivered. "You should be getting home. You will need your rest. We will contact you when everything is set. Bones will escort you to the door." Lexie stood and walked to where Bones was standing, she waited for him to lead the way, but he didn't move.

"Excuse me, Sir. . . ."

"Yes, yes, Bones, I almost forgot. Miss Kyle, you will be needing an alias, another identity. For security reasons, of course. You can choose your own."

Lexie turned and looked at Joe. She thought for a moment, then answered, "I want to be Catwoman."


	7. Uncle Fred and the Orange Sea Scrolls

Disclaimer: The characters of Catwoman and Batman are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

The Mask of Darkness: Part Two

**Chapter 6: Uncle Fred and the Orange Sea Scrolls**

Inhale

Exhale

Inhale

Exhale-

Lexie was finding it hard to concentrate. Her mind wasn't skilled enough for this; trying to memorize all of the light beams in front of her before the smoke from her smoke bomb vanished. She was in complete uniform. She had wanted to use her Halloween costume from the year before, but it was absolutely impossible to move in that thing. So Joe had one of his contacts make her one that would fulfill the stereotypical cat suit requirements, and still be flexible enough for Lexie to move in. OK, so maybe it was exactly the stereotypical cat suit. Her very tight-fitting pants and jacket were made of something Joe liked to call "pleather." It looked like leather, but cost three times as much, and it was flexible, so Lexie didn't have to worry about it ripping and revealing herself in front of God and everybody. Underneath her jacket was a purple spaghetti-strap shirt.

"Come on, Lexie, focus." She said to herself. The smoke was growing thin and so were the light beams. In a matter of seconds the beams were completely gone from sight and Lexie was running out of time. "OK, I can do this. I mean these last six months of training weren't for nothing." Lexie exhaled once again and preceded trough the invisible maze, stepping over and crawling under thin air that could make all the difference. Suddenly an alarm went off, startling Lexie and causing her ears to sting with pain. She looked at the now visible beams and noticed where she had tripped one. Lexie slapped her forehead"Oh, forgot about that one." The lights in the room were now on and Lexie had to shield her eyes from the light. She heard Joe's voice from an intercom,

"Congratulations-you're dead"

Lexie rolled her eyes; "Actually I've just got the next twenty years in prison."

"Mistakes are unacceptable, Miss Kyle. You will never survive if can't even get though this simple exercise."

"Simple! I'd like to see you come down here and get through this 'simple' exercise"

"I can't."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"But you must also take into account that I haven't had six months of training" he emphasized the last few words to make his point more clear.

"Why do you make me do this? You said yourself that no one would take the trouble of putting in THIS many motion detectors."

"We are just preparing you, Miss Kyle. Zero has been-having trouble. It's like the Feds have somehow obtained psychic powers and know our every move."

Absolute Zero, or Zero as he or she was most commonly called, was The Collector's most accomplished thief, and, from what Lexie could tell, they were good. Very good. And she wondered, if Zero was having trouble, she sure as hell will.

"I'm going home," Lexie said with exhaustion.

-

Lexie was driving down the highway to her house in her brand new, purple jeep (courtesy of The Collector) with the wind blowing in her face. It was after midnight, probably closer to one o'clock. At least she didn't have to worry about homework. All this "training" had caused her to have to drop out of school. She didn't see the need to go anymore anyway. What was school's purpose? To educate you so you can get a decent, well paying job, and she already had an extremely well paying job, she wasn't too sure about the 'decent' part.

Lexie pulled into her drive way, got out of her car, and walked into her house and into her living room. She flung herself on the couch lazily and turned on the TV. A replay of the ten o'clock local news was on.

". . .And the Wildcats completely overpowered the Bulldogs 21 to 3 at last night's game. . ." Lexie smiled at the fact that the "Cats" had beaten the "Dogs" and then she began listening again.

". . . And in other news today, Marcus Kyle awakens from a six- month coma, John Watson is at St. Jude Hospital with the latest. . . " Lexie turned off the television after she heard that. She had seen enough of that story the past few days (hell, she had lived though it). About how her father hoped that some day she could forgive him for what he did and that he hoped that her Uncle Fred would let him speak with her.

Uncle Fred; Lexie laughed out loud at this thought. Bones convincing the judge that he was her uncle was an experience that she wasn't going to forget anytime soon.

-

_Bones and Lexie both walked into the courtroom at the same time holding hands, to give the impression that they knew each other. They had just sat down when the bailiff announced, _

"All rise for the honorable Judge Greene." Everyone stood, and in walked a balding, heavyset man with thick glasses. He looked at Lexie and Bones curiously, then to Brock Benson, Lexie's attorney.

"Mr. Benson, as I understand, you have found a blood relative of Ellexia Kyle with a spotless record to become her legal guardian"

Mr. Benson looked at Lexie and Bones then back to Judge Greene, trying desperately to think of a way to avoid this. "Uh, yes, your honor, I have, I think."

"What do you mean, you think"

Mr. Benson handed Bones's forged records to the bailiff and he handed them to the judge, who looked them over, confirming that they were authentic and that Bones's indeed had a spotless record,

"Uh, your honor, this is Fredrik Freeman, Ellexia's uncle. Mother's side." Bones stood at the mention of his assumed name. OK even behind those thick glasses you could see Judge Greene's eyes widen with shock.

"Her uncle"

_"Yes, your honor." Mr. Benson lowered his head in embarrassment. _

"But he's. . . he's. . ."

"I'm what, your honor" Bones said in his incredibly deep voice. Judge Greene looked at him nervously and began biting his lip. How was he supposed to say this politely?

"You're. . ."

"Yes"

"You're. . .You're"

"I don't mean any disrespect, your honor, but spit it out. I'm what" The judge was getting exceptionally nervous now. If he made himself appear racist, his reputation as a fair judge would be destroyed and he wasn't going to let thirty years of hard work go to waste in the next few words he said.

"You're. . .You're, you're Ellexia Kyle's new legal guardian."

Bones smiled"Thank you, your honor, I'll do my best to take good care of Lexie."

"I'm sure you will."

As Lexie and Bones were leaving the courtroom, Lexie overheard Mr. Benson talking to Judge Greene,

"Your honor, can you-can you do that"

"Listen, he may not be her uncle, but his record is spotless. I'm an excellent judge of character no pun intended and she's in good hands. I mean, what's the worst that could happen"

-

Lexie snapped out of her trance"Hm, what's the worst that could happen? The worst that could happen is that I could be forced to do illegal activities so I won't be killed. I could never be allowed to contact any of the people I care about ever again, and I could be forced to work under a hell- driving lunatic, named "Joe" of all things, that won't accept anything less than perfection form me." Lexie sighed, "Yeah, I would say that that's the worst that could happen." Figuring that the story about her father was finished, she turned the TV back on.

". . . . it's been said that their value in dollars is unimaginable. So please come over to the Eastgate Museum of History to have the once in a lifetime chance to view the Orange Sea Scrolls." Lexie became suddenly interested, and she scooted to the edge of the couch.

". . . . they will only be here Thursday and Friday, so hurry over here to see these priceless artifacts. . . . "

"Looks like Zero will be busy this weekend" Lexie thought. Then the phone rang.


	8. It Starts

Disclaimer: All characters Batman related are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

The Mask of Darkness

**Chapter 7: It Starts**

This couldn't be right. Her phone ringing? The only people who knew her number were Joe and Bones. They wouldn't be calling her to tell her to go get those-those scroll thingies? No, she was just being paranoid. She hadn't completed her training; she had two more months according to Bones (he had said he went though eight months of training before his first job). It had rung many times and Lexie was just staring at it.

"Well there's no reason to let it just ring." She walked over to where the phone was hanging on the wall. She took a deep breath and pick up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Good evening! May I please speak with, uhh, umm, Miss Ellexia Kyle?" Lexie had to contain a laugh. Stupid telemarketers.

"OK, what do you think you're doing? Dammit, it's one o'clock in the morning! And you're calling here tryin' to sell something." And she hung up. She had to get one of those Telezapper whatchamacallits.

She walked to the refrigerator and looked inside. An empty milk carton and a Sunny Delight bottle with maybe one glass left in it.

"Okey, Dokey." And she pulled the Sunny D bottle out of the fridge and put it on the counter. She went back and opened the freezer and smiled. She made sure that she always had at least tree different kinds of ice cream in her house at a time. Right now she had four: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (her all time favorite), Triple Chocolate Overload (when she was in desperate need of a sugar high), Moose Tracks (she just thought that name sounded cool when she bought it, but it was now a close second to Cookie Dough), and Oreo Madness. She hadn't tried the latter yet so she pulled it out of the freezer and was about to set it on the counter when the phone rang.

"I am going to find who ever invented telemarketing, drag them out to the middle of the street, shoot them in the legs so they can't run away, sit back on the curb and watch them get run over by sports cars, SUV's, pick-ups, and semi's." She shook her head in realization of what she was saying. Dear God, all that time around Joe was really starting to get at her. She picked up the phone and said in a not too enthusiastic voice,

"Hello?" Then she heard an amused voice she knew all to well.

"Well, hello Miss Kyle! You left so quickly tonight, I didn't get a chance to tell you the exciting news. I've got a little job for you."


	9. Sour Cream and BarBQue

Yeah. . . .I know this sounds like Alias. That happens to be my favorite show OK! And I_kinda_ got my inspiration from it (hehe) and there will probably be like two more similarities and that's it I promise! Well I'll stop talking now cuz I'm starting to ramble (I love that word 'ramble') ;-D

Disclaimer: All characters Batman related are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Mask of Darkness

**Chapter 8: Sour Cream and Bar-B-Que**

And so there she was, sitting in Joe's office looking over the blueprints to the museum, memorizing every nook and cranny she could. It was Wednesday; she had two days to get everything sorted out.

"Are you sure you want ME to do this? I mean Bones said that he had to go though eight months of your training before he was given his first job. Do you really think I can pull this off?"

"My dear Miss Kyle, if I thought that you couldn't handle it, you wouldn't have been here for the past six months training for it." And he smiled; God did Lexie hate that smile.

"It's just that with the Feds seeming to know what were gonna do before we do it. . . wouldn't Zero be better for this?"

"Well, she would. . ."

"Wait, she's a she?" Lexie was puzzled; Joe wasn't usually that careless about information on other employees. Something had to be going on.

Joe looked annoyed, "Yes, if I were to say 'she' that would probably mean that she's a she."

"So why don't you get her to do this?"

"Because I don't want her to do this, I want you to, OK?"

Lexie saw that it was pointless to argue, "OK."

-

Thursday night.

This was really it.

WOW.

Tomorrow and she'll officially be a criminal.

How was she going to pull this off?

People were starting to notice her. She was, after all, standing in front of the ice cream section of the grocery store staring blankly at the many wondrous flavors; and she did look like the next decision she made would have an enormous impact on her life. So, yeah, people were staring at her.

Twix ice cream-that looked interesting; she opened the door and grabbed the closest box to her. She began to walk to the check out line when-OH MY GOD! She ducked behind the Ruffles Chips display. What was she doing, hiding from him? She had no reason to hide, did she? She had a worried look on her face, more people were "noticing" her. She peeked around the Sour Cream 'n' Onion bags, DEAR GOD! She quickly resumed her former position next to the Bar B Que bags. No doubt about it, it was definitely him. She told herself to just breathe. Why was she making such a big fuss?

Inhale

Exhale

Inhale-

What comes after "inhale"?

He rounded the corner. OH NO! He's seen her, oh wait he didn't recognize her, no wait; he did a double take, oh God! He's knows it's her. He's smiling, that's a GOOD sign right? He's opening his mouth; he's going to say something,

"Lexie? Lexie is that you?"

She let out the breath she'd been holding and started to breathe in and out deeply, he looked worried, that's another good sign, right- RIGHT,

"KENNY! HI!"


	10. LOTS of Ice Cream

Disclaimer: All characters Batman related are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

**Chapter 9: LOTS of Ice Cream**

Kenny was still smiling. He sighed in disbelief, "Ellexia Kyle." He was still smiling and he looked at her up and down, "I can't believe it's you! I almost didn't recognize you, with the new hair . . . and everything."

She did look a lot different than she did the last time she saw him. Of course she had gotten a haircut, her long black hair was now in a short style. She thought it would be easier to wear her mask with short hair, but that wasn't the only reason. She had always wanted short hair, but being in cheerleading, the coaches preferred long hair and you had more of a chance to make the squad with long hair (author's note: I know that to be a fact being an ex-cheerleader myself). And Lexie knew what the 'and everything' was. Her body had really toned out with that torture Joe liked to call training she'd been doing the last . . .oh geez, it had been SIX MONTHS since she'd last seen Kenny. She was realizing all over again how much she had missed him . . .

And speaking of bodies toning out, Kenny . . .WOW! OK, someone has been spending some time at the gym! Lexie was finding it exceedingly difficult to keep her eyes from wondering to places they shouldn't go, and that tight t-shirt and those jeans Kenny was wearing was not helping her cause. But Lexie almost laughed out loud when she noticed Kenny seemed to be having the same problem. Poor guy, the mini skirt and halter-top probably weren't helping HIS cause. She was going to eat this pint of ice cream in her jeep then go out to a teen club or something. It would be her first attempt at a 'life' in, well, the last six months. But the main reason she was going out was to get her mind off her job. She needed to clear her head. She smiled even bigger when she realized that she might not have to go out alone.

"So, Lex, how have you been doing? You look great, REALLY great." Kenny suddenly stopped smiling, "Lexie, why didn't you call or write or e-mail or something?"

Lexie knew this had to come up eventually. What was a good way to put this and not lie? She couldn't lie to Kenny no matter how hard she tried. She kept thinking and all she could come up with was, "Kenny, that's a long story. A very long, really, REALLY long story." That wasn't a lie.

"Ya know, Lexie, when people say it's a long story, the story can usually be told in a couple of sentences."

"I don't think the ice cream isle in a grocery store is the place to talk about it."

Kenny's smile finally returned. Lexie had especially missed his smile. "Yeah, I guess this isn't the best place to talk about the last six months." Then his face brightened up and Lexie could tell he had just come up with a brilliant idea. "Hey, Lex, I just got a brilliant idea! Julie's out in the car and maybe you could come with us. I know she won't mind when she finds out I picked you up."

"J-Julie's with you?"

Kenny expression turned rapidly from giddy as a school boy to dreadfully embarrassed, "Uhh, yeah, umm, we've actually been dating for the past two months."

"O-oh, OK."

Kenny smiled weakly trying to lighten the mood, but it really made it worse, "We actually had a date tonight 'cause I have a . . .I got a . . . a . . . I have work tomorrow night and probably Saturday too, soooooooo, uh, yeah." During these next moments, Lexie truly understood the meaning of the phrase 'awkward silence'. Then Kenny broke the silence, again trying to make everything less uncomfortable, but only succeeded in making it worse, "But she won't mind 'cause it's you. I mean you guys were like best friends. Where do they keep the gum?"

What Lexie actually wanted to say was, "My God, Kenny, Julie and I were never best friends. Friends, yeah, but not BEST friends. Damnit, Kenny, you were my best friend, but I guess you figured that out a long time before I did." But what came out was, "Over by the check out lines."

"Uhh, yeah, that's right, uummm, so are ya gonna come?"

"Aaahhh, no. I'm not gonna intrude on you're night with-" Lexie swallowed, "Julie."

"Oh, come on, Lex!" Kenny was smiling again. Lexie smiled too.

"NO."

"OK. You know she's gonna be pissed when she finds out you wouldn't come though."

"Yeah." OK, should she do this; it shouldn't be too bad . . . "Here's my number." Lexie took out a pen from her pocket and wrote her phone number on Kenny's hand, "Call me." Then realizing that what she had just said my not have sounded like what she had wanted, she added, "I mean you and Julie, the both of you, you AND Julie, yeah."

"Yeah. I-we'll do that. I guess I'll talk to ya later."

"Guess so. See ya."

"Later." And he walked to a check out line, bought his gum, and left. Lexie never took her eyes off of him the entire time. And when he had finally left, she turned back to the ice cream and grabbed as many boxes as she could. She was going to need a lot of ice cream.


	11. Like a Nightmare

Hey sorry if this chapter totally sucks. . .I was really pissed off when I wrote this. But who knows, it may make it even better. . .I dunno. . .it's short. Not the shortest, but still. Just give me some time to cool down a little and I'll be back to normal. . .

Disclaimer: All characters Batman related are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

Chapter 10: Like a Nightmare

Lexie was feeling sick, very sick. She probably didn't need to be driving, but she had to get to base, she had a job to prepare for. The butterflies in her stomach were flying a million miles an hour. She was going to be sick. She pulled over.

After she had vomited a great deal, Lexie got back into her car and began driving again. She knew she couldn't possibly get sick again after vomiting that much; she didn't think it was humanly possible.

She pulled over once again. She was wrong.

-

Lexie finally got to the abandoned air-conditioning factory twenty minutes after she had wanted to, so she was about ten minutes late. She walked into Joe's office, where he was waiting for her, saying,

"Sorry I'm late. I. . . ran into some problems coming over, but I'm here." She'd be damned before she would tell Joe she got sick. But he seemed to guess what had happened anyway.

"Yes, you are. We tell our employees to be here a little early to allow for incidences like yours." He paused, then continued, "Now, let's get down to business. Bones," Joe motioned to the darkness that surrounded the little bit of light that illuminated his desk area and Bones walked out of that darkness pushing a table on wheels about the same size as Joe's desk. It had various items that were both familiar and unfamiliar to Lexie. Joe began to explain the function of each object. He pointed to a belt with pockets all around it, "The pockets on this belt contains every possible device you will ever need, a 'utility belt' if you will."

Lexie smiled. A utility belt, Lexie couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't die just to have a look at a genuine utility belt, even if it wasn't REALLY Batman's, she thought this was too cool. Who wouldn't?

Joe then picked up what Lexie thought was her mask, but it wouldn't cover her eyes, "This is your mask. There are mikes in the ears so we can hear everything that's around you. They're stronger than the human ear so they should pick up anything that you can't hear. Also there are small speakers on the inside here so we can communicate with you." Joe laid down the mask and picked up goggles that were similar to the ones Catwoman wore in volume II only the lenses were black, "These will cover your eyes." He pointed to three little buttons that were next to one of the lenses, "These are buttons, this one makes the lenses retract," He pushed the button and the lenses disappeared, "and this one is for the night vision lenses." He pushed the second button and green lenses appeared. He pushed the first button to make the lenses retract then pushed the third button, "And this one is for the regular lenses. Be sure that you push the retracting button when you decide that you want to use the other lenses. If you don't, the goggles will malfunction and will have to be repaired. Remember, Miss Kyle, this is very expensive equipment and will be very expensive to repair." Lexie nodded her head. Joe nodded in acknowledgement, then picked up a black glove with long claws, "Put this on, would you, Miss Kyle." Lexie put on the glove. The fabric was something she had never felt before. Joe noticed the confused look on Lexie's face, "It has steel sewn through it. The claws are made of steel also. We couldn't have the fabric ripping, so we figured that it would be wise to reinforce the gloves with steel. This steel is the strongest we can offer as of now. We are working on getting a formula the Feds are working on for an even more durable metal."

"Why didn't you just send Zero. . ." but she was interrupted by Joe,

"There were complications." Dropping the subject, Lexie took off the glove and set it on the table next to its mate. Lexie then noticed what looked like a dog collar. Lexie raised her eyebrows and pointed to the collar,

"A dog collar? Doesn't that kinda go against the look I'm going for here?"

"No, no, Miss Kyle, it's a cat collar." Joe smiled with amusement. Lexie shuddered. "It has a microphone in it so you can tell us everything you see, hear, smell, think, and feel. We want details, Miss Kyle!" He laughed. After all this time Lexie had never heard Joe laugh. It scared her. She didn't think his smile was so bad any more.

She packed the new equipment into her bag and went to change.

-

She didn't have any feeling in her body as she got dressed.

She was numb.

No feeling.

Like a dream.

No, a nightmare.

Her brain was throbbing against her skull; it felt like it was trying to break free from her head, trying to escape. She didn't want to do this. She wanted to do anything but this. What if she ran into someone when she was breaking in? What would she do? She didn't want to hurt anyone. She didn't want to do this.

She was ready.

At least she LOOKED ready.

She would never really be ready to do anything like what she was about to do.


	12. BONES GIGGLES!

Disclaimer: All characters Batman related are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

**Chapter 11: BONES GIGGLES!**

Lexie walked out of the room where she had changed into her Catwoman attire. Bones was waiting outside the door. He raised his eyebrows and said,

"Let's go." Lexie swallowed and followed him outside to a gray van that had 'Joe's Air-Conditioning Inc.' written across it. A man was leaning on it fiddling with his fingernails. He looked like he might be in college; he had long red hair in dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail, and a short beard. He stood up straight when he saw Bones and he smiled at Lexie. She smiled back. He was the only person she had seen other Joe who had smiled, but his smile was friendly and contagious.

"Well this must be Catwoman. Love the outfit." The man looked her up and down and winked at her. Lexie rolled her eyes underneath her goggles.

"Catwoman, this is Key. Neither one of you will ever learn the other's real name, clear?" Lexie just nodded while Key said,

"Totally crystal, man."

"Good. Catwoman, Key is technical support. One person can't handle all the equipment in the van. He's vital to this mission . . ." Key then interrupted Bones,

"No, dude, I'm 'key' to this mission. Hence the name." Key was also using his hands to emphasize his point. Lexie rolled her eyes again, but she couldn't help but catch Key's infectious smile. Bones began to rub his temples with his index and middle fingers,

"Key."

"Hmmm?"

"Shut the hell up."

"Alrighty then."

Lexie thought to herself that Key must've worked with Bones before because Bones had such an authority over Key. To her, Key didn't seem like the kind of person to take orders easily.

Key opened the back door of the van to reveal the most of any kind of equipment she had ever seen in her entire life. She wondered how all of it could fit in there. There were also two circular stools bolted to the floor of the vehicle, Lexie guessed so that the persons sitting in them could operate machinery on both sides of the van easily without worrying about their seat moving all over the place. Key climbed into the van and motioned for Lexie to join him.

"Hop in. You can sit next to me." Key smiled again. Lexie was about to step in when Bones stopped her,

"Oh no, I'm not leaving her anywhere near you without my supervision." Key made a face of absolute disappointment and closed the door to the back, "Catwoman, you're riding up front with me. Besides it'll be easier for you get out that way without revealing our equipment."

Lexie walked around the van to the passenger side door, found it difficult to open with her claws, but eventually overcame the challenge. As she was buckling her seat belt, Bones undid it. Lexie looked at him confusingly. He answered her look by informing her that they may need to leave the van in a hurry and the seat belt would slow her down. Just then Key popped his head out of a door connecting the back and front of the van,

"That's Bonzey for ya; always expecting the worst. He's never fed up a mission before, and I highly doubt he's gonna start now. And by the way, anything he says about me-don't believe it." Lexie laughed.

"Something tells me I should." Key clasped his hand over his heart and opened his mouth like he was truly horrified at the thought of someone think badly of him, but Lexie knew he couldn't care less. Actually, he acted as though he WANTED everyone to think badly of him. You've met the type.

Key pulled his head back into the rear of the van and Bones closed the door, "After our first mission together, I had the back sound proofed," Bones smiled, almost as evil like as Joe could have, "but he doesn't know that."

-

They had been driving for about fifteen minutes. Lexie occasionally looked through the window in the door connecting the two sections of the van and noticed Key's mouth moving. And every time she did it Bones giggled. Bones, that huge man sitting next to her that she had never even seen smile before tonight, GIGGLED.

-

After driving about ten more minutes they reached the museum. Bones passed the museum and parked the van in an alley two buildings down. He reached behind his seat and pulled out a tube with a diameter of about tree inches and eighteen inches in length.

"When you have obtained the targets, roll them very carefully and place them in here," he unscrewed the top off of it to show her the inside of the tube. Lexie nodded.

"You're going to need every kind of training that was ever given to you to complete this mission. Especially if you run into the . . ." Bones stopped as though he was questioning his words, "the agent"

"From the government you mean."

"Yes. He's good, Lexie, very good." Lexie flinched when she heard her name but Bones reminded her that the back room was sound proof. "And let's just say you'll know him when you see him." Lexie was getting very puzzled. "And another thing. . . .there's another person you need to watch out for."

"Who?" Lexie had no idea who else she could possibly run into while trying to rob a museum.

"Zero." Lexie opened her mouth in surprise. "The reason Joe didn't send her on this job was because she no longer works for us. She may be interested in the targets for herself."

The word 'confusion' didn't even come close to describing what was going through Lexie's mind at that moment. How could Zero not be working for them now? Lexie was under the impression that if you didn't want to work, you die. And why would Zero want to stop working anyway? If she was good enough to have not gotten caught yet, she probably wasn't going to get caught. And what the hell did Bones mean by 'you'll know him when you see him'? Then there was the question that had been in the back of her mind almost since day one: Why were the Feds so focused on The Collector? Lexie didn't think that one person who was just stealing stuff (or rather paid other people to steal stuff) would attract so much attention. Of course it would attract SOME attention, but busting The Collector seemed to be their prime goal. Lexie wasn't sure if she was getting the whole truth. Lexie then mentally smacked herself. Of course she wasn't getting the whole truth. She was working with CRIMINALS, and then she realized she was a criminal herself. She gave herself another mental smack: she was thinking too much.

Lexie took a deep breath and opened the door. Bones grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him and he took off his glasses and told her, "I know you can do this, Lexie. And you know you can too." Lexie nodded and stepped outside the van into the alley. She looked at the building and saw a fire escape. She smiled, pulled out her whip, and was on the roof with in minutes. Bones and Key were watching from the van,

"She's gonna do OK ain't she, Bones?"

"I hope so."

* * *

I still hate that ending. Its so corny, it makes me want to puke, but it was all I could think of! 


	13. The First Job

OMG you guys I am sooooo sorry for not writing in so long! I guess I just didn't have the motivation! But dude, seriously im gonna be busting my ass to get this thing done. . . ive even thought of two, count 'em TWO sequels! So I gotta get this one doen so I can start work on those! haha

Disclaimer: All Batman related characters are property of DC Comics. Blah Blah Blah Blah. I'm not making any money from them. Blah Blah Blah. All other characters and this story belong to me.

**Chapter 12: The First Job**

"What's new pussy cat? Whoa oh whoa oh whoa oh! What's new pussy cat whoa oh whoa oh whoa oh oh" That god-awful song! Here she was, about to steal invaluable pieces of history, and she was skipping across the rooftops singing a Tom Jones song. Lexie told herself to focus. No, wait, that wasn't her telling herself to focus, that would be Bones telling her to focus and him yelling at Key to stop laughing so loudly.

"Key, would you shut the hell up! Catwoman, you definitely need to be quiet: Zero may be up there."

"I know, I know." Catwoman forced the song to stay inside her head. Zero could very well be watching her right now, holding in her laughter much more successfully than Key.

She only had to jump onto the roof of one more building: the museum. Then she would climb in through the conveniently large vent. Joe said it was used to release pressure from the ventilation in the entire building. She really didn't pay much attention to what he was saying; she had no need for that kind of information on her mission. She just needed to know how to get in, that's it. She thought Joe just felt the need to show off that he knew what the vent was for. Catwoman rolled her eyes thinking of him. Men.

The distance between the building she was on and the museum was wider that the last space she had to jump. She looked around for an easier way to get across. Not too far above her there were telephone lines going from above the building she was on to a telephone pole on the other side of the museum. She took her whip and slung it around the line. Holding the handle in her right hand and wrapping the popping end around her right, she slide across the line, letting go of one end of her whip when she was above the museum. With her feet firmly on the roof of the museum, she looked for the vent, found it quite easily because of its size, removed the screen from the opening and crawled in.

Having memorized the ventilation system of the museum before hand, she effortlessly found her way to the ceiling vent above the museum lobby. She looked down at the dark, quiet room from above. The vent screen was easy to remove; she just lifted it from where it was. She put the screen aside and jumped out of the vent. Joe had told her that security was minimal in the lobby because there were no artifacts in the room and would be easy to maneuver with out having to worry about tripping any laser beams or any other security measure. Joe had also mentioned that she wouldn't have to go too far to get the scrolls for they were the main attraction and were in the main exhibit area, in the front of the museum. This would make her job a lot less painless.

She walked to the entrance of the exhibit, and she dug a smoke bomb from her utility belt. She kind of giggled to herself. She had a utility belt; she couldn't get over it. She activated the smoke bomb and slid it across the floor of the room so she wouldn't trigger any of the laser beams that were present. When the bomb released smoke throughout the room and revealed the beams, she was actually disappointed. Joe had been right; places like this really DON'T take the trouble of putting all the motion detectors she was used to training with. They weren't even in any sort of zig-zag pattern or anything. Just straight beams of light in equal intervals all the way through the room.

"Bones. Are you seeing this? I can step over these things!"

"Disappointed are you? Expecting more of a challenge? Good. Better to have you over prepared than under."

She sighed in discontentment. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Deciding that walking was just too boring, Catwoman walked to the middle of the lobby, got a running start and did a round-off and 3 back-handsprings, then added a lay-out at the end for good measure.

Back in the van of Joe's Air-Conditioning Inc., Bones, looking at the video screen of the camera in Catwoman's goggles annoyingly asked himself, "Was that really necessary?"

"Uh, YEAH!" Key answered for him, "That was hot! Think she'd do it again so I can tape it this time?" Bones turned to find that Key was watching Catwoman on a different video screen that he had connected to the security cameras in the museum.

"Key."

"Hm?"

"Please tell me that isn't a security camera you left running just because you couldn't control your hormones."

"Oh, ye of so little faith, man! Chill out, dude! I figured out how I could watch, but the guards can't, which totally makes it more fun." He could tell Bones was still vexed about the situation, so Key explained further, "If the guard on duty is even awake, all he's seeing is a loop of a nice, quiet, peaceful little museum. But that's not all I'm seeing!" and he turned his attention to the video screen. Bones rolled his eyes behind his dark sunglasses and returned his own gaze to the screen that showed Catwoman's point of view.

Catwoman was using her nails to cut a hole in the top of the case that held the scrolls and she was wondering how she did all her tumbling with those nails with out them breaking, but she then remembered that they were made out of the strongest metal that was available.

She carefully removed the perfect circle of glass she had cut from the remainder of the case and placed on the floor next to her. She reached into the case and grabbed the unrolled scrolls one at a time. When she had all three scrolls, she placed them on top of one another and rolled them up and put them in the tube Bones had given her.

"OK, guys, I got 'em."

"Good. Now get out of there. The sooner you're out, the sooner we can leave." Right then Catwoman got a crazy idea.

"Hey, Bones, let me talk to Key real quick."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why?"

"Would you just let me talk to him?" Bones, feeling that something bad was about to happen, reluctantly gave his earpiece to Key. Seeing Key's baffled look, Bones said,

"She wants to talk to you."

"Right on." Was all Key said. He put the earpiece on and said his 'sexy' voice, "Hey, baby, what's on your mind?"

"Don't make have to smack you when I get back in the van."

"Don't deny your inner desires."

"Ew. Just turn off the loop in the security cameras."

Becoming suddenly concerned Key said, "Cats, I don't think that's a good idea. You may not have enough time to get out if the guard sees you, babe."

"Oh please, Key! Do you seriously believe the guard is awake this time of night? And even if he is and he alerts the blues, it would take them at least ten minutes to get here. That's plenty of time."

"Why would you want me to do that?"

"I want everyone to know it's me. I want people to know that there's a Catwoman."

"Catwoman, that's crazy!"

"Why? I want to be given credit for my work! And don't you think it will just drive the Feds crazy if they've seen me, if they know my name?"

"I don't know, C.W." then Catwoman said in her most pitiful voice,

"Please?" then she looked up at the security camera that she knew Key was watching her in and pouted her lip.

"Oh, fine."

"Thank you! And can you zoom in on me too?"

"Yeah, just a sec." Key began typing away at the keyboard in front of him.

"Key, what are you doing?" asked Bones apprehensively.

"Being stupid." Key then looked up at his screen with a zoomed in view of Catwoman. "OK, Catwoman, do your thing."

She looked straight into the camera and mouthed 'I am Catwoman. Hear me roar.' Smiled as seductively as she knew how and did her back-handsprings out of the room.

"Key, what was that?" demanded Bones, "Why did she do that? Did the cameras get that! KEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!"

-

Catwoman was out of the museum and in the alley where the van was in under five minutes. During the robbery something had happened to her. All through the night she had been so nervous. She had not wanted to do this. But that feeling she got, the adrenaline pumping through her system. She liked that feeling; she liked it a lot and she wanted to feel it again as soon as possible. It was too easy, robbing the museum. She wasn't going to get caught and she knew it, and she was going to ask for more difficult assignments for the future.

As those thoughts were running through her head, she looked up to see Bones standing outside the van, looking quite angry. Actually, she thought out right furious was a better term for what he looked. But being a professional man, he kept his composer,

"ARE YOU FING INSANE! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT COULD HAPPEN BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE? DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU COULD BE _KILLED_ FOR THIS! WHEN JOE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS-"

"Joe doesn't have to know until he has to."

"You're going to be all over the news."

Lexie smiled and said, "That's the effect I was going for."

Bones shook his head completely unable to understand, "You know, I don't get you. You were about to be physically sick in the van on the way over here and now you want every person in the world after you? I just don't get it, Catwoman! This is going to be a very bad situation. Very bad."

"It won't be as bad as you think."

"You have only been doing this for half an hour, I've been doing it half my lifetime. You have no idea what you've done." And with that, he got in the van. Lexie went around to the back door and rode with Key the way back. Even Key wasn't stupid enough to try anything now, and Lexie was honestly scared to ride in the front with Bones. She suddenly felt stings of irresponsibility, brainlessness, and ostentation hit her squarely in the chest. She was like before, submissive, and indisposed. Only the feelings she was feeling now were more powerful, and they hurt. She had not only put her own life at extreme risk, but also the lives of those that she worked with. She didn't want to hurt anyone. And she felt as though she was letting someone down, but didn't know whom. She certainly didn't care about Joe felt about her, and she had just met Key. She didn't think it was Bones, even though he had at least acted decent around her, but they weren't exactly on personal terms and she was feeling like a complete failure, most likely to herself.

As impossible as it is to believe, Key didn't talk the entire trip back to base. He just hung his head and tried to keep himself busy on the computer or with a book. Lexie hoped he wasn't feeling like she was, she wouldn't wish that on anyone.


End file.
